22 Spotlight 11/2019 LANGUAGE SPECIAL
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A. Millennials are such snowflakes,
aren’t they?- True! They’re so fragile and sensitive.
Poor little things!
The term snowflake is often used by
older conservatives to dismiss concerns
expressed by the more liberal millennial
generation or Gen Y (people around 25
or younger). Young people are often the
ones who will flag up how policies and
language can be unwittingly discrimi-
natory or offensive. More conservative
people sometimes feel this sensitivity
has gone too far. For them, the younger
generation is too fragile and melts in the
heat like snowflakes.B. I think it looks silly when white peo-
ple wear their hair in dreadlocks.- Yes, and it’s a sort of cultural appro-
priation, isn’t it?
“To appropriate” means “to take over” —
or basically “to steal”. When we decide to
do our hair like a Rastafarian or sell native-
American-style feathered headdresses
at a music festival, we’re borrowing from
those cultures. If we do it out of fashion or
fun, or to make money, perhaps we should
think a bit more carefully about it.C. The speaker for our conference has
been no -platformed.- I’m not surprised. She always express-
es very provocative opinions.
No -platforming is a form of boycott,
where a speaker is denied a platform
from which to speak. It’s a typical protest
on university campuses, where students
try to block an invitation to a speaker who
holds views they find offensive.D. I find the alt right quite frightening.- Yes, their nationalist and white-
supremacist opinions are dangerous.
The alt right, or alternative right, is a
loosely connected far-right, white-nation-
alist movement that originated in the US
and is found largely online.E. What did the president say about the
anti-government protests?- He just said it was fake news — obvi-
ously!
Fake news has two aspects. Firstly, it’s the
deliberate faking of news stories for polit-
ical gain, also known as misinformation.
It’s also the term used to flat-out deny real
facts. If you don’t want something to be
true, just dismiss it as fake news. Simple!
We live in a post-truth world.F. Where does the energy come from
to power your electric car? Unicorn
farts?- Good point! We need renewable, sus-
tainable energy, not magic.
Even the cleanest cars don’t run on some
kind of mythical, magical gas, like unicorn
farts. The power has to come from a more
realistic source. Anyway, as any child can
tell you, unicorn farts aren’t electricity —
they’re rainbows.G. Oh, dear! I have a sunburned nose
and blisters on my feet from standing
around too long at a Buckingham Pal-
ace garden party.- Wow! What a humblebrag!
The humblebrag (“humble” + “brag”) is
a curse of social media. It’s a boast poor-
ly disguised as a self-critical comment. It
follows the model: “Poor me! I’m great!”
If you’re complaining that you can’t park
both your Ferraris outside your new
home, or that your five-year-old child is
already cleverer than his teacher, then
please, just shut up!H. We’re friends with benefits.- Oh, I see. So it’s just casual sex, not an
actual relationship?
boast [bEUst]
, Wichtigtuerei, Prahlerei
brag [brÄg]
, prahlen, angeben
deliberate [di(lIbErEt]
, bewusst, absichtlich
disguise [dIs(gaIz]
, tarnen
dismiss [dIs(mIs]
, abtun
flag sth. up [(flÄg Vp]
, auf etw. aufmerksam
machenflat-out [(flÄt aUt]
, geradeheraus
humble [(hVmb&l]
, bescheiden
offensive [E(fensIv]
, beleidigend, anstößig
originate [E(rIdZEneIt]
, entstehen
platform [(plÄtfO:m]
, Bühne, Podest
source [sO:s]
, Quelle
unwittingly [Vn(wItINli]
, unabsichtlich